


kaleidoscope

by paradoxikay



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 01:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15808956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradoxikay/pseuds/paradoxikay
Summary: “So you’re just going to leave? Go make friends with the enemy? After everything Takaya’s done for you?”"Yes. No. ...I don't know."A brief prologue to a better ending for Chidori and Jin.





	kaleidoscope

**Author's Note:**

> thank you [Jon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonphaedrus/) for betaing!

“Help me with my hair.”

Soft as it is, Chidori’s voice has a way of getting Jin’s attention. He glances up from his laptop to see her in a towel, hair falling in still-wet tangles down her back. Their website won’t fall apart if he takes a break from the routine maintenance he was doing, so he sets his laptop aside and scoots over to make room for Chidori on the couch.

This is usually Takaya’s job, and it’s not like Chidori to come to Jin instead of just waking up her preferred hair stylist. Something’s up, but he’s not sure what it is – and the worst way to get anything out of Chidori is to  _ ask _ for it. If she wants him to know he’ll find out eventually, so he doesn’t pry, just gets started on combing out her hair.

It’s kind of soothing, actually, the repetitive motions and silk-smooth hair sliding past his fingers; he almost forgets how weird it is that he’s doing it at all, and Chidori doesn’t complain, even when he has to pick out knots, so he must not be doing too bad a job. She doesn’t say anything at all, doesn’t even move, just stares out the window and leaves them both to their thoughts.

“The full moon is tonight,” she finally says. Which, yeah, Jin’s very much aware of that, but he doesn’t feel like picking a fight right this second. She’ll get to the point eventually.

“I… I don’t think I can do it, Jin.”

_ That’s _ not what he was expecting – though maybe it should’ve been. She’s gotten so attached to her precious Junpei, and he’s known since the beginning that would spell trouble, even if Takaya refused to believe him. Chickening out at the last minute, though – it’s not unbelievable, it’s a little  _ too _ believable, but it’s still a massive pain in the ass.

“You’ve fallen for him that hard?”

“No.” She twists around to face him, and there’s something in her expression that startles him silent. There’s  _ determination _ in her eyes, and she actually seems here, present, instead of off in the clouds somewhere. He’s not sure when he last saw her look this… alive.

“I don’t think I can do it because… they’re the only ones who can stop us. Stop Takaya. And maybe Takaya should be stopped.”

“The fuck are you –“

“Be quiet!” She grabs his shirt, pulls him closer, and he decides to keep his mouth shut. Getting into a shouting match over this will just wake up Takaya, and this really isn’t an argument Jin wants him to be a part of. He’d be able to handle Chidori, but… that doesn’t seem like the right option right now. He’s not really sure why. Doesn’t want to examine that particular hunch, either, because it doesn’t feel great to think that Takaya might be wrong.

“He would protect me. If I left.” Her voice shakes, just a little. She lets go of Jin and curls in on herself instead, whispers her next words down at her knees. “They’re powerful, Jin. And there’s only three of us. And… Takaya isn’t the same person he used to be.”

Jin can’t deny that one.

He  _ wants _ to, desperately – wants to chew her out for being ungrateful, for insinuating that Takaya is anything other than their  _ savior _ , but she’s  _ right _ . Takaya’s wish has utterly consumed him, leaving something like a ghost behind who’s barely going through the motions of caring for Jin and Chidori. Not that Jin’s any better, following him willingly into destruction because at least this way they’ll be together ‘til the end. He knows that, can’t push it down far enough to forget it.

But only Chidori would’ve ever been able to make him admit it, and he’d never thought she had it in her.

“So you’re just going to  _ leave _ ? Go make friends with the enemy? After everything Takaya’s done for you?” There’s no conviction in his voice, but he can’t just let it go without a fight. Everything he’s known and done, his whole life, rides on this – on Takaya. And he knows what Takaya would never admit: Without Chidori, they’d be screwed.

“Yes.” A pause. “No. ...I don’t know.” She drops her head down against her knees, hugs her legs more tightly to her chest. “Can you blame me? Lately, he’s been - he’s more like the people he saved us from than the person who saved us. I didn’t want to think about it. But Junpei…”

“You’re turning on him just ‘cause your new boyfriend said he’s the bad guy?”

“No! I’m not an idiot. I can think for myself. And I think that the people who care about you shouldn’t make you miserable!”

She sucks in a breath, lets it out as something uncomfortably close to a sob. Then she unfolds herself, and though there are tears in her eyes when she turns back to Jin there’s also a resolve he doesn’t think he’s ever seen.

“I’m leaving. Not because Junpei told me to, but because I realized Junpei’s  _ right _ . So unless you go get Takaya, right now, I’m leaving.”

This feels more like a nightmare than the shit he suffered through in the Kirijo labs, but the worst part about it is that he can’t say she’s wrong – not without lying to himself, and he can’t quite make himself believe the arguments that die unspoken before they reach his mouth. 

Takaya  _ would _ stop her, he knows; he’s the only person who can. If Jin yelled for him, this whole thing would be over, dealt with.

“I’m not gonna get Takaya.” 

He doesn’t know where the words come from, doesn’t know where he’s found the weird sense of calm that washes over him. Wherever Chidori found all that grim determination, he guesses. None of this feels real – or maybe it’s the entire rest of his life that doesn’t feel real. This is the kind of life-changing choice he thought only existed in video games, and it’s almost too easy to make.

“If you leave, I’m going with you. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on you. I don’t trust that Kirijo girl.”

**Author's Note:**

> @[enbynoctis](https://enbynoctis.tumblr.com) on Tumblr  
> @[paradoxikay](https://twitter.com/paradoxikay) on Twitter


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